The Death Of Me
by kressn
Summary: A little fix to the last episode when Mac wakes up in the hospital after being exposed to the nerve gas. Jack should have been the one there when Mac woke up, not Cage, so I fixed it. Just a short one.


The Death Of Me

 ** _The last episode was pretty cool! I am just taking a detour because having Cage there and not Jack when our boy genius woke up was so very wrong, I have to change that._**

Jack was trying to remain calm, he really was, but it was very hard to do as he sat there in an uncomfortable chair next to Mac, as he waited for the kid to wake. Once Mac had successfully created a fan out of computer parts, a CD, and aluminum foil that had previously wrapped someone's Hoagie sandwich, and vented the nerve gas out of the small room, Jack and Cage both had to grab the boy as he opened the door and attempted to walk out, only to stumble and nearly face-plant on the floor, had Cage and him not grabbed him and supported all his weight as they started to maneuver him out of the lab, Mac would have fallen on the concrete floor unencumbered. When Mac had told them he needed to get to a hospital because the gas he had been exposed to would kill him within 18 hours, it sent Jack straight into panic mode as he hurried his pace up as much as possible while helping Cage carry the semi-lucid Mac who was also sporting an injury, all be it, self-inflicted, to his right leg, which he incurred when he jabbed a pair of scissors into it in order to release Adrenaline into his system out of the building.

Jack rubbed his hand across his face in frustration, Mac was surely going to be the death of him. When Mac locked himself in that room and told him he had been exposed to the deadly nerve gas, Jack thought he was going to have a stroke where he stood. When he realized he could not get Mac out using brute force without infecting everyone around them for miles, including themselves, he swears he felt his heart stop. When he saw Mac jab a pair of scissors into his leg, well, he really thought that he was just going to drop dead from shock and fear right where he stood. Thankfully they were able to basically carry Mac to one of the foundation's vans and Cage, driving like a bat out of Hell, while Jack supported the increasingly weakening, semi-conscious kid in the back seat, was able to get them to Phoenix's Medical in record time.

Once they had arrived at Phoenix Medical, the very efficient medical team were waiting with a gurney to which Jack lifted Mac, now unconscious, onto, and they wheeled him inside quickly. Jack followed the boy and the medical team as far as they let him, eventually being made to wait out in the waiting area with Riley, Cage, Bozer and Matty, not happy about it, Jack waited knowing the docs needed to do their job and as much as Jack hated leaving his boy's side, he trusted the doctors would take good care of him; that had been 6 hours ago.

After 2 very long hours, doctor Finless came out to speak to the team, Jack was out of his chair so fast at the sight of the approaching doctor, he actually felt dizzy. The doctor told them that Mac was going to be OK. They were able to give him the antidote to counter-act the nerve gas in time to avoid any long-term damage to the kid's body, although he would experience some lingering dizziness, shortness of breath, muscle spasms, headaches, and some fatigue for a week or so. They had to surgically repair the wound to his right leg, although the scissors had missed the artery and caused minimal damage; Jack was not surprised since he knew Mac would have aimed the scissors perfectly based on his knowledge of the human body probably remembering some human anatomy poster or text book picture he saw when he was 3 thanks to his amazing memory.

After being assured that Mac would be OK, but that he would be out cold due to the anesthesia and the stress on his body from the gas and its antidote, they were let back to see him. Mac was indeed "out cold" when they approached his bed, and still was 4 hours later, even after the rest of the team left after the nurse asked that only one visitor remain with Mac, knowing Jack would want to be the one to stay and be there when Mac came around.

Jack popped his knuckles and stretched his back a bit, never taking his eyes of the sleeping boy, Mac was curled up on the bed, face scrunched into a corner of the pillow, legs spread eagle under the warm blankets, breathing softly, looking so much younger than his 26 years, that Jack wondered when HE had gotten so damn old himself? He was brought out of his reverie by Mac's sigh and fluttering of his eyes. Jack leaned in closer to the boy as Mac finally opened his eyes and looked around slightly disoriented at first until his gaze met Jack's. Jack finally felt like he could release the breath he had been holding since Mac first locked himself inside that dammed lab.

"Hey" Mac said quietly. "Hey bud", Jack replied back, "how are you feeling kiddo?" "You're really starting to become a frequent flyer around here kid" he said jokingly, winking at the boy, who still seemed a bit out of it. Mac smiled and said, "I should start a loyalty card program, I am two punches away from a free kidney…" Jack was about to laugh when Mac suddenly grabbed the blanket with his fists and arched his back gasping in pain. Jack jumped out of his chair and placed one hand on the kid's forehead and one on his shoulder; "wow, Mac!, easy boy, just breathe, come on, nice and slow, that's it"

Mac was making a joke about Jack's comment of him being in Medical too often when suddenly his leg decided to poke at him like daggers of fire, causing him to the physically recoil and gasp in pain, effectively sending Jack into "Papa-Jack/Mother-Hen Mode", Mac however did not mind so much since he always found Jack's presence and often his touch, grounding, soothing and comforting when he was hurting; kind of like that which he assumed, would come from one's father. He let Jack's voice guide him back down from the pain spike and then relaxed again; nodding when Jack asked him if he was OK?

Jack was not happy to see the kid in pain, but he was happy to see him alive and out of danger. He patted the kid's shoulder once Mac relaxed back down onto the bed and sat down on the side of the kid's bed, giving in to the urge to run a hand through the kid's hair in a comforting manner. He smiled when the kid didn't slap his hand away like he normally did.

Mac was either still high from the anesthesia and the meds, to where his defenses were down, or he just wanted to feel a friendly touch, and decided to allow it; either way Jack was not going to look a proverbial "gift horse" in the mouth and continued carding his fingers through the kid's blonde locks as he told Mac that he would be OK and that he should try to go back to sleep, that rest was the best thing for him right now.

Jack was not entirely surprised when he looked down at a softly snoring blonde genius and smiled, still carding his fingers through the boy's hair, ,more for his own comfort now than the boy's since Mac was out cold again.

Yep…Jack thought, kiddo, you are definitely going to be the death of me…


End file.
